


Is that mud on your face?

by fan_fics_are_life



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Caring Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Fainting, M/M, Sick Merlin (Merlin), Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:41:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23228023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fan_fics_are_life/pseuds/fan_fics_are_life
Summary: Merlin is sick, but as always, he never tells anyone, before it's too late.
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 341





	Is that mud on your face?

Merlin wasn’t feeling very well. He hadn’t sleep more than 2 hours and his head was throbbing. He hoped that today would be easy, but nope, why would it.

Merlin stepped out of his chamber.

“Good morning, Merlin! I thought that maybe you could go and gather some herbs for me before you go to Arthur.” Of course, out of the all days possible, Gaius asked Merlin to do that today. You can’t blame him, though, it was Merlin who decided to hide his headache.

“Yeah, of course” said Merlin, “You know what, I’m going right now”

“But your breakfast?” asked Gaius.

“I’m not very hungry” answered Merlin and it wasn’t a lie either. His horrible headache had stolen his appetite.

Merlin was almost out of the door, when Gaius called for him.

Merlin peaked his head back into the chambers: “ Yeah, what is it?”

“I haven’t even told you what I want you to collect”. Gaius looked at Merlin with a concerned face.

“Oh, so what do you need?” Merlin tried to hold his voice cheery, but the headache was just getting worse.

“I need some plantago and achillea”

“Plantago and achillea, got it.” And with that Merlin jogged towards the forest.

When he reached the forest, he was out of breath and had to lean against a tree. Weird,he thought, I have never had a problem with running from the castle to the forest.

When he had caught his breath he started looking for the plants. He had already collected a lot of both the plants and when he saw a plantago he thought that this one is going to be the last one. But as he kneeled over, he landed face first on the ground. What the actual hell, he thought. But as he laid here, the ground felt so soft against his cheek…

“No, I have to go back to Camelot and wake Arthur up, I’m already late” he said out loud. 

He didn’t trust running so he just walked very quickly. He dropped the herbs off in Gaius’ chambers and then ran to the kitchen, to get Arthur’s breakfast. After that he ran as fast as he could to Arthur’s room. He placed the breakfast on the table.

“Rise..and..shine” he said while panting. Arthur groaned, but sat up pretty quickly.

“Did you run a marathon or something?” was the first thing Arthur said to him.

“Yes…No…Sorry, what was the question?” Merlin was still panting but much less than he had been half a minute ago.

“Are you deaf or are you dumb?” was Arthur’s new response.

“Both?” said Merlin and chuckled. But then his headache hit him once again. He had to lean onto the wall to keep his balance.

“Merlin? Are you alright?” Arthur asked him with furrowed brows.

“Yeah, it’s nothing” Merlin said.

Only now Arthur noticed how bad he looked. He was swaying and trembling and he was very pale and sweaty. And what was that on his face? Mud? 

“Is that mud on your face?” Arthur asked him.

“I have mud on my face?” Merlin asked and touched his face. Wait, did he walk around the castle like that? Suddenly Merlin felt really embarrassed.

Arthur nodded to his question, but he still looked at him with a concerned face.

“Umm, may….may I go and..and wash it off?” Merlin was out of breath again, but he hadn’t even done anything. He felt himself swaying and Arthur’s concerned face went out of focus.

“Merlin, you look very pale, maybe you should sit down for a moment.” Arthur moved closer to Merlin and grabbed his hands.

“No, I’m f’ne” Merlin slurred.

“No, you are not fine and you are going to sit down.” Arthur said and started to guide him towards the chairs.

But not even one step in, Arthur felt how Merlin leaned more on him and then collapsed between the prince’s arms. Arthur sat down on the floor with unconscious Merlin halfway on his lap.

“Merlin!? MERLIN!?” Arthur half yelled as he started to panic. He scooped Merlin off the floor and laid him on his bed. Arthur didn’t care that he was a servant, whose face was covered in mud. He was his friend, his best friend and he really cared about him. 

Arthur put his hand on Merlin’s forehead. It was hot. Very hot. And you don’t need to be court physician to know that’s bad. So Arthur ran out of his room towards Gaius’ chambers. Luckily for him, Gaius was there.

“Gaius!” Arthur yelled as he panicked.

“How may I help you, sire?” asked Gaius.

“It’s Merlin.”

“Have you tried the tavern?” 

“No, he’s not missing, he’s sick. He’s forehead is very hot.” Arthur really started to panic now.

“Where is he?” asked Gaius.

“He’s in my room, lying on my bed. He collapsed about 3 minutes ago” Arthur says to him as Gaius gathers all his supplies that he needs.

“So he’s unconscious?” asked Gaius as they walked towards Arthur’s room.

“I think so” answered Arthur.

But as he pushes the door to his room open they see that Merlin was already trying to get out of Arthur’s bed.

“Merlin, you need to lay down.” Arthur says as he walks over to Merlin, ready to catch him if he passes out again.

“Well, I’m definitely not going to to that in YOUR bed” Merlin says as he tries to push Arthur away.

“Okay, then we are going to get you to your bed, if that’s better” Arthur shoots back and starts guiding Merlin towards the doors.

“I’m fine, seriously” Merlin says, but then Gaius puts his hand on his forehead.

“You have a high fever, Merlin, you should rest.” Gaius says and starts walking towards the door.

“ugh” is all Merlin says to them after that.

The trip from the prince’s room to Gaius’ chambers went almost fine. Almost.

They almost reached the door when Merlin went limp between Arthur’s arms again.

“Merlin?” Arthur asked him worriedly, even though he knew that Merlin wouldn’t hear him.

Arthur picked Merlin up bridal style and carried him to his bed. Merlin was trenched in sweat and he looked even paler than before.

“Is he going to be alright?” The prince asked the court physician.

“Yes, he has got high fever but the right medicine and some rest will take care of it.” said Gaius reassuringly.

“Alright, that’s good to hear” Arthur said as last of his panic left his body. Arthur stood up ans started to walk out. “Take good care of him, I know you will.” He said to Gaius and then left because as much as he wanted to spend the day on Merlin’s side, he couldn’t, because he still needed to be prince of Camelot and do his duties.


End file.
